Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles .243 Compact/Youth Rifle Choices

Looking to purchase a .243 to set up and have in camp for our growing grandchildren as they become ready to deer hunt. Between myself and my buddy, we have 3 grandsons ranging from 10yrs old down to 4yrs old and so far one our adult daughters is interested as well. I expect there will a handful more little ones over the upcoming years.

I want to buy and set up a good .243 to have on hand that will last and can be handed down and passed around and available as a backup camp gun in case someone has gun troubles.

I certainly wouldn't say money is no object, but I don't want to go bargain basement here.

I'm not too concerned about modularity in regards to swapping stocks as they grow as they can simply graduate to something new and this one can stay for the next young one.

I'm looking at the Tikka T3x Compact, Savage Axis II XP Compact, Weatherby Vanguard II Compact, and maybe a Remington 700 ADL Youth.

I have a couple of Tikkas and love them. I'm not sure how the others compare. I'm certainly open to other suggestions.

I appreciate your experience and opinions!!

I can't begin to emphasis how much I dislike the Savage Axis.

If this is going to be a camp rifle that will be passed around, you might want to go with stainless metal for ease of maintenance.

Maybe a stainless Remington Seven with a shorter LOP "Youth" stock?

I’d look for a Model 7 Predator in 243.

Add Savage 11 Trophy Hunter XP Youth to the potential list.

I'm like stainless but don't think it's a must. We keep a cleaning kit in camp and are pretty religious about cleaning and maintenance.

The Rem Model 7 was another I found to be a contender. How does it compare to the 700 youth?

I want something with a decent trigger as it will help with accuracy and confidence.
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Kimber Hunters (the plastic stocked models) can be had for under $700. Cut 2" off the stock, install squishy 3/4"-1" recoil pad and you'd have one heck of a "small-framed shooter" rifle. Nice and light, great trigger, and a long enough bbl to get the sound out and away from tender young ears. If noise/recoil is a concern for any of them, load up some 80-85gn bullets @ ~2800fps.

I've got several 700's and 7's. The ejection port for the 7 is tighter and harder to manipulate ammo in/out of the belly IMO/IME. For a new shooter I'd defiantly be looking @ the 700 over a 7.

I’ve got a tikka t3 compact in 308 for my daughter, great rifles.

RAR is a good one. My daughter has a muddy girl Savage and it’s fine as well.

I bought a Walmart closeout 243 Vanguard last year. Replaced the 1” pad with a .4” pachmayr had Johnboy on here do a spiderweb paint job and redneck cut and crown the 24” tube down to 21.5”. It’s a great handling rifle that is a solid MOA shooter with Federal blue box 100’s. I’ve got $350 tied up into the rifle, another $100 into a Nikon prostaff 2-7.

The thing that deters me from most youth 243’s is the short barrel. The muzzle blast/percussion, even with good hearing protection, can startle new shooters.

I thought that the ejection port on the Remington 7 was larger than the short action 700.

A 700 ADL Youth package gun in 243 with a no-name (throw-away) 3-9x40 scope should run you under $400 at Wal-Mart. The small dealer wholesale price for these 700 ADL packages is around $395, so Wal-Mart's ability to buy in large quantities will generally get you a lower price than your average dealer can sell them for after shipping and retail mark up.

Marlin sold the XS7 with a youth length stock in 243 and 308. The last time that I looked CDNN still had some 243 packages for $270. I have at least one XS7 Youth stock off a rifle that I bought as a donor action for $30 plus the actual shipping/insurance. I think that I have a couple NIB XS7 Youth models, one in 243 and one in 308, on the shelf that I probably won't use if either would work for you. The 243 is a KY built rifle and the 308 is a CT built rifle.

I don’t know if howa still offers the youth package that comes with a full size stock when your kids gets bigger.
Id also look or consider at shorter barrel version like 20”
I gave my boy my tikka 223 and put a youth stock on it.
and the 22.4” barrel seems little long.
I like 243, but the 6.5 CM is so popular now days I got a box of S&B ammo 140 fmj for 10.99 and 140 SP for $12.99.

Feels like there's less room to manipulate things to me.

Browning has a micro Midas abolt. Not sure about xbolt. It would be another good option. I just bought Rem 700 youth but haven’t had chance to use. Browning and Tikka are a little more expensive than most youth rifles but are good quality.

They are still dumping the Remington model 7 predator for right about 400$. Might look at that as an option

CDNN has the XS7 243 package right now for $250. The reviews look pretty good overall. How does this stack up to the other suggestions? Tikka, Model 7/700, Savage, Weatherby? Hard to overlook the price if the rifle itself is good. Scope can always be upgraded as necessary and if one can get a youth stock?

I like it, but is there a youth stock option?

Just cut it down. Save the piece and glue it back on later as the kid grows up

For low dollars, hard to beat a Marlin XS7 or Savage with youth stock. I bought a youth model blue/wood Savage chambered .243 for my oldest daughter. She used it. Her kids have used it. Zero issues over 20 years. I bought a used XL7 in .270 for a grand daughter. Zero issues with that rifle as well. Would expect the XS7 .243 to be same/similar.

Imo the Tikka T3X compact is the best bang for your buck. Most of these “youth” rifles anymore are pretty damn heavy.

My son is only 9 but handles the recoil of his 7/08 T3X compact with no issues using hornady reduced recoil loads and it groups them at about 3/4” as well. The rifle with talleys and a 2-7 Leupy only weighs 6 3/4 pounds so he can handle it quite nicely.